


Arbitrary Invention

by twilightstarr



Series: Golden Walls [5]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: M/M, Mentions Of Infidelity, Pre-Fire Emblem Fates, The slow burn continues, Trans Leo, Worldbuilding, gender discussion, nonbinary stuff, off screen transphobia, references to the concubine wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-25 05:54:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16191437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilightstarr/pseuds/twilightstarr
Summary: Niles asks a question, receives a longer answer than expected, and learns something new about Leo.





	Arbitrary Invention

**Author's Note:**

> The setup here borrows a bit of context from Give Me a Chance to Like You. To summarize, if you haven't read it, Niles was illiterate before becoming a retainer, something Leo insisted must be amended. Once Niles got the basics down enough, they got into the habit of regularly having written conversations as a form of practice. 
> 
> This almost feels like it should have been part of the previous work, but honestly, I hadn't developed these ideas yet at the time. It took me some time to realize that it was important to me to include my trans Leo headcanon and properly explore nonbinary Corrin, and then it took me some more time to figure out how to go about it. Also this ended up being Leo's pov instead of Niles, so, I guess we'll separate it.

_“Why do you always use they when you talk about Corrin? Is Corrin a man or a woman?”_

Leo pushed the paper aside. This was going to be too long of an answer to write. He’d anticipated that question coming sooner or later, conscious of it coming closer every time he mentioned his sibling, such as in his last reply a minute ago. He, Xander, Camilla, Elise, and Corrin’s staff were all used to it, but it was bound to sound odd to Niles. Time to get it over with. 

“Well, the concept of men versus women is mostly just arbitrary invention. Yes, people are born with one of two body types--usually, but that’s another subject--but all the ideas and expectations people have attached to it are just so unnecessary, and they vary across time and cultures, which just goes to prove how meaningless it all is. There are languages that don’t have gendered pronouns, and there was even this society that had a third recognized gender before it became part of what would be Nohr--not that that’s common knowledge, _of course_ , but I can give you my sources later--” 

“Leo, I believe you,” Niles interrupted. 

“You do?”

“I know people make up silly rules sometimes. This isn’t a fight. You can relax.” 

“I am relaxed.” Leo realized after saying it that he hadn’t been, but Niles took his hand for a minute, melting much of the tension away.

“So what you’re getting at, is that Corrin is like the people from that society who considered themselves this other gender?” 

“Basically, yes,” Leo smiled. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t expected it to be this easy. Niles was not one to be surprised when it came to the quirks of humanity. 

“Interesting. How did Corrin come to discover and take on an identity no longer in use though?”

“Well, it’s not entirely out of use. There is a surviving Nohrian adaption of the Gathalian word, and there are others out there who feel like they don’t fit with their assigned role and are drawn to the identity even though it’s not widely known or accepted anymore.”

“Oh. Is this transgender?” Niles asked. 

“They’re similar, but… a transgender woman considers herself a woman; a transgender man considers himself a man; a _varian_ , though, was believed to be sort of in between. Corrin had quite a hard time trying to pick a side until we finally found out about the word and realized maybe they didn’t have to. Most people will still try to sort them into one side or the other, but it gave them some peace of mind. We got into the habit of using ‘they’ during the meantime when Corrin was undecided, and then it stuck.” 

“Aww. So that’s how you know so much about these things. You were doing research to help Corrin?” 

“Well, I suppose I felt responsible for helping them find the answer, since they started questioning it in the first place because of me.” 

Leo saw the question coming an instant before it did, realizing what he’d just let slip. “Because of you?” Niles asked. 

It had been a long time since he’d made a mistake that obvious, but then again, maybe it wasn’t a mistake. Leo felt safe with him, as safe as he did with his siblings who knew. He decided he wouldn’t mind Niles knowing too. “Yes. Corrin was rather fascinated when I explained that I was transgender to them and asked if they could be like that too.” 

“Oh...” Leo watched Niles’ face as he processed that. “Should I call you ‘milady’?” 

“No, no, it’s the other way around,” Leo hastily corrected. 

“But you look… well, I guess you look a bit androgynous, but your voice?” 

“There’s a potion for that.” 

“Oh. Um… I’m sorry,” Niles stammered. 

“No, it’s alright. You’re actually taking this pretty well, and it’s nice to know I had you that convinced,” Leo smirked. Niles chuckled, and they recovered from the awkward moment. 

“Your parents though, they didn’t stop you from… being you?” 

“Oh, my mother tried at first. We had disagreements about what I ought to wear and how I ought to act. My father though, he used to be more reasonable.” 

“The king?” Niles asked dubiously. 

“It might be hard to imagine looking at him now, but he was the less intimidating one at the time, and… one day when I was with him, I finally vented to him about how much I hated some of her rules. My father thought she was worrying too much about something that wasn’t important and convinced her to give me a bit more freedom while I was young. I don’t think he realized at first how serious I was and thought I was just curious and would move on eventually, but instead I just grew increasingly comfortable being boyish. She hated it, but was also afraid of contradicting him. When the day came when he offered her residence in the castle, and she started getting her hopes up that she could be the third queen--” 

Leo noticed an intrigued look and was reminded that, apart from some rumors, details of the king’s interpersonal affairs weren’t common knowledge outside of certain circles. 

“--Yes, she wasn’t Katerina or Arete, and they… had relations during the second marriage.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised." 

“Anyway, at that point she became quite concerned with being taken very seriously, and didn't think I gave a good impression. She gave me the choice of either learning how to be a _proper noble young lady_ , or if I wasn’t going to change, creating the ‘ruse’ that I was her son, which I better not mess up. You can see which option I took. It was after all of that that father apparently decided I was worth keeping as a prince even though he didn’t marry her.” 

“So she never knew how you really felt about it?” 

“No. It seemed like a pointless discussion. I somehow got her to let me mostly do what I was comfortable with without directly bringing up that subject, so why push my luck? My siblings know everything though, and I'm glad to have their support. Xander probably helped a lot. I’m sure I wasn’t as convincing then as I am now, but when he called me a brother, well, people tend to take his word on things. I wonder how she’d react now to how I’m _ruining _my body with magic,” Leo mused. “Something about how I’ve irrevocably destroyed my chances of ever getting a man’s interest, I’ll bet. As if I care. I, for one, would rather put my fate in my own hands than some hypothetical husband’s, thanks. I’m rambling,” he noticed. Niles had only been gently prompting him here and there, and that was all it had taken for Leo to pour everything out. Outside of his siblings, he’d never trusted someone this much before. It seemed like it ought to feel strange, but really it was quite comfortable.__

____

____

“Yes. It’s adorable,” Niles managed through giggles. 

“Niles.” Leo knew he failed to sound truly annoyed. Seeing him smile like that was too beautiful. He’d seen it more often lately, which he took pride in. Niles deserved some happiness after everything he’d been through.

“I bet she’d be wrong, though.” 

Was that flirting? No, it could very well just be friendly reassurance. It didn't matter anyway. “Oh, well, it’s not like I’m that concerned with it, but, thanks?” 

“Thank you for trusting me with this, Leo. I’m honored.”

There was an overwhelming sincerity to his voice. Though Niles had made it feel relaxed and almost normal, he understood the significance of the conversation. Using the name with no title still wasn’t something he did too often, even though he had permission, so there was something irrationally exciting about it when he did. Leo didn’t know how to respond, so he suddenly remembered the abandoned half-filled parchment. “Well, you still have two more replies to write, Niles.” 

“Aww, I thought I’d gotten out of that,” he sighed.

**Author's Note:**

> Trans potion is a thing. In his supports with Sully, Ricken mentions an "elixir that can turn a woman into a man". I didn't even have to make this up. 
> 
> I didn't feel like using the word "nonbinary" worked in this setting. In the components of the word, you have more than an identity. It's also a deliberate and largely internet-community-based movement to deconstruct something ingrained in society, and doesn't really sound right removed from its modern context, I guess, whereas "transgender" sounds a bit more intuitive and time flexible to me. The way I decided to incorporate the idea, I needed something that sounded more like it could have been part of the structure in a time and place, like some of the real world nonbinary-like cultural ideas, and function well as a noun.


End file.
